Jessica Vovers is a PhD candidate in Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering with a focus on sustainable solvents. She aims to replace petrochemical solvents for bio-based ones in the extraction of natural products, specifically pharmaceutical compounds from opium. She is passionate about diversity, sustainability, candy, and makeup. When she’s not painting herself blue she’s usually playing video games or riding her bike. Jess is highly enthusiastic about diversity in STEM and advocates for this through her work with Science Gallery Melbourne and mentoring with Curious Minds.

m-Time is a business dedicated to supporting parents. Founder, Dr Yan Ting Choong, first proposed the idea of introducing confinement nannies to Australia at a start-up bootcamp. Choong explained that in Chinese culture, after a woman gives birth, a nanny is sent to her home for 30 days to provide household help and emotional support. This gives the new mum space to recover and bond with her baby. The idea caught the attention of Sarah Agboola, who recognised that for such an idea to work, they would need to promote a cultural shift amongst Australian parents and normalise the acceptance of help.

Working under the pseudonym Ghostpatrol, David Booth first made a name for himself on the walls of Melbourne’s laneways. Working with ephemeral techniques, by 2007 Booth had built an international reputation and fanbase as a street artist. But Booth’s practice, grounded in a passion for drawing and sketching, has always been split between ephemeral works — street-based works, as well as temporary sculptural and installation works — and works on paper and linen. As a result, Booth sees his practice as floating between the worlds of fine art, commercial design, fan service, large mural painting and commercial collaboration.

Booth’s ongoing explorations are focusing, at present, on ambitious installation and painting projects and other multimedia experiments, often working collaboratively. These passion projects — among them, the Hepburn Wind Farm and the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne — inform Booth’s studio practice and gallery work, and reflect the artist’s social and environmental conscience.